Are you a founder sitting behind a mahogany table, the old CEO way, and with zero online presence? Then you have to consider what that does to you and your company.
Social media is where successful brands are built. Brands that gain, not just followers, but interests and revenue. To achieve this kind of success, a brand needs a human element. Who best to do it if not the founder?
If you are not making your online presence felt to the world, you are sending your brand to the realms of the unknown.
Now is not the time to play low-key and leave it all to the marketing department. It is time to become a Chief Storyteller. If you don’t know how to do it, ask your marketing team for assistance.
CEOs can use social media to position themselves as industry leaders and brand storytellers. And by doing so, the interaction they generate will bring traffic to their business. This is by far the best digital strategy; founder + company marketing.
Your job as CEO of a startup is to be the Chief Storyteller and the brand ambassador sharing your company’s story every chance you get.
Companies realized a while ago that going digital is important. So they flocked there. Most companies are spending a lot of money on promotions. From influencers to ads –you name it. But for some reason, they struggle to establish a genuine connection with the target audience. Why? Well, that’s because there is a missing part to their online marketing efforts.
Why a Founder/CEO Marketing is Important?
CEOs who have abandoned social media may be ‘quiet quitting’ on their own business. You will lose a big chunk of people to your competitors who, in addition to company posts, have a digitally outspoken personality that gets eyes to their brand.
Professor Ndubuisi Ekekwe, faculty lead at the Tekedia Mini MBA program, is an excellent example of founder marketing. He is one of LinkedIn’s top voices from Africa, engaging an audience of over 165,000 people. He is aware that a company alone (Tekedia Institute) alone will not suffice. So being active, and writing extensively on his personal profile draws students to the Tekedia Mini MBA program.
Ndubuisi’s posts are more than simply his company updates. He contributes value and knowledge in his posts. This strategy fosters his image of a thought leader and a person that has wisdom.
Undoubtedly, a post on the CEO’s profile will gain more attention than one on the business page. Speaking from a human perspective is more impactful.
Founder’s Personal Brand: A Brand’s Best Ally
Founder’s (or CEO) marketing will complement your company’s brand marketing in a way outsider influencers can’t. It can help earn genuine engagement of the Brand and the audience.
Businesses cannot succeed without trust. The online visibility of the founder opens the way for credibility and trust in the Brand. See the image below:
If Microsoft promoted this from their company page, they wouldn’t get this much engagement. Why? People don’t often interact with a company page. Microsoft has over 10 million followers but likes on its posts rarely pass 200.
People need a face, not a logo. A logo cannot achieve the level of trust that a CEO of that Brand can establish. Founder Marketing contributes to the Brand’s increased visibility.
As a social CEO, you must engage with your audience meaningfully. That can take the shape of Tweets, Linkedin Posts, TikTok videos, or whatever platform you like. Just be careful not to post all about your business. Share your opinions on pressing matters such as geopolitics and how they affect business. Sometimes remember the youth and share experience-based career tips. You will be likable.
Ryan Reynolds making fun of Nuvei CEO for not being on social media
Real personalities breathe life into brands. Especially now that demand for business transparency is greater than ever. A CEO can win over consumer trust and create emotional bonding with other people.
A social CEO consequently becomes the public face of the Brand or business. Furthermore, it is comforting to learn from their engagements that CEOs are not distant figures who only attend meetings.
A Tweet or a Post by a Social CEO is not just another noise in the realm of Social Media. It is an echo of their remarkable Leadership.
P.S.: If you are looking to see how a mix of founder and company marketing will help grow your business, click HERE to contact us.
The world is full of brands echoing in every corner. Everyone claims to be unique and the best. But in a hurry to identify as a brand, everyone is doing what is already being served to the audience. It is easy to choose a path that is generic and become mired in mediocrity.
When so many companies offer the same thing, you may stand out by developing a unique content strategy and engaging with something your competitors do not.
You can have a perennial presence by posting Happy Sunday, Monday, and Friday; Happy Holidays or Morning Wishes, but will this help you make an indelible presence?
In the history of customer complaints, no one has ever complained that a company did not wish them a happy Easter, New Year, Eid, or any holiday.
Nor has it shown to influence purchase or engagement. "I'm buying because they posted Happy Eid" never happened.
Being distinctive doesn’t just mean being seen; it also means having the power to establish your presence by creating a persistent impact. Your efforts to foster trust, authenticity, and value for customers are just as important as financial investments in your company.
Anyone can use images from photo stock, but you must work exclusively to establish yourself as ‘Exclusive.’ It is entirely up to you to stand out or be generic and give up your Uniqueness.
What everyone is doing
Companies that are unfamiliar with the game copy exactly what another company does. This is what makes them the same as any other company. They usually post:
Their team: You will only attract job seekers wishing to work at your company.
Holiday wishes: If every company does that, why do it?
Overly Promotional Content: They aggressively market their goods or services and engage in direct sales instead of building genuine connections with the audience.
Scarcity Mindset: Companies with a scarcity mindset only focus on the now. They fail to invest in things that take time but guarantee long-term returns, such as a content strategy for authority building.
Creating content and doing activities that demand effort and resources establishes credibility and proves that you are confident in your offering. It gives the impression that you want to provide the best for your customers. Your customized marketing means you have put efforts to understand the needs of your target audience. It is a way to create an emotional bond with your customers or audience.
In social media, you can break away from the herd by signaling your investments in long-term relationships with your customers. This means posting opinionated and experience-driven insights. Not the generic stuff. It is how you can build a powerful brand presence:
1. Share case studies or testimonials
Social Validations are the voice of your credibility. Case studies are a great way to show how your product helped the real user instead of mere claims. It is human psychology to seek out references and experiences of others to help them make their choices. By considering other people’s decisions, it can aid in personal decision-making.
2. Organize webinars
There are numerous platforms available to get on a live conversation with your audience, including X Spaces and Linkedin Live. Webinars can showcase your brand’s online presence, engage and educate your audience, and turn leads into actual clients.
3. Diversify your content
Nothing makes you fall into the pack more than being overly promotional. Sharing opinionated and experience-driven insights give your customers something they don’t usually see from other companies. Brands that know what works have a combination of educational, entertainment/Inspirational, and Promotional content. They don’t focus on promotional content alone.
4. Play the long game
Valuable content may take longer to give results, but it will have a lasting impact. Your communication and engagement with the audience should all show your authenticity. Play the long game and you will benefit from the compounding return of your efforts.
A crowd of brands is out there, and people’s attention spans are short. Unique content imprints your brand image in the mind of customers. Which leads to word of mouth, the magic of business growth.
Your content should address their pain points, offer solutions to their problems, and serve as a bridge between your brand and the customers. Customers who are happy with your services or product will be your most loyal advocate.
The generic approach might appear quick and simple, but you must go above and beyond to establish your brand authority. Don’t have some Brand B; replace your Brand A. You can stand apart from the noise by giving your brand a distinctive voice.
Remember, uniqueness lives on the edge, where there is less crowd.
The job of marketers is to keep up with evolving marketing trends. We need to ensure that we remain updated about algorithmic changes, revise our advertising to adhere to new policies, and many more changes. We do all this over and over again so we can adjust our strategies to improve the outcomes for our clients and our own companies.
Unfortunately, not all trends work. Here are some of the marketing trends to watch in 2022, that we believe will actually
Focus on Mobile-first marketing
By 2025, an estimated 73% of people will access the internet on mobile-only. Always consider how something will appear on mobile devices. Try to use long, horizontal videos and images because they look best on mobile screens. Take advantage of app-exclusive features, such as audio posts and Fleets on Twitter; live video and Reels on Instagram, and Stories on YouTube and Instagram. Always focus on mobile-only features to create a more seamless experience for mobile users
Focus on Social Commerce
Social media has become the heart of the post-pandemic shopping experience. Platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest have given brands the opportunity to create a seamless experience for users to buy products directly within a social channel without being taken outside. Brands need to capitalize on the growing social commerce trend.
Brand and Creators collaboration
Brands and creators’ collaboration is an important marketing strategy marketers are expecting to use in 2022. Brands need faces and voices that can tell their message, values, and mission. Online content creators are best positioned to drive ROI for B2C brands. Creators have existing loyal communities that brands should creatively tap into instead of building a community from scratch.
Making Social Ads that blend in
Marketers need to intuitively understand a particular platform as a user, not just as a marketer. This will help in creating ads that do not interrupt people’s experience but seamlessly fit in. Today’s consumers are smarter and more empowered. Brands will have to think hard about whether they want to be embraced or tolerated on a particular platform.
Social media means business
Social media has finally matured to find its place in business. Marketers are not just raising awareness on social media but expect to derive tangible ROI from it. According to Hootsuite Social Trends 2022, 83% of marketers are confident about quantifying the ROI of social media. This was not the case over a decade ago when marketers struggled to measure ROI from social. But both the pandemic and social platforms’ advanced features have forced marketers to rely on social as it became a primary source to keep up with customers.
Building trust with first-party data
With the elimination of third-party cookies in 2021, marketers are turning to first-party data in 2022. Companies will focus on collecting data directly from their users for retargeting purposes. Online data about customer interaction on a website or an app will be collected through subscriptions, product views, and inside queries. In a world of growing privacy concerns, first-party data will enable businesses to operate in a privacy-compliance and cost-effective way.
The metaverse to enhance customer experience
Many businesses are expected to enter the metaverse in 2022 and years to follow. That is because the metaverse has mouthwatering promises to businesses, it is expected to bridge the gap between traditional and digital marketing. From improved customer experience to selling virtual products, and from virtual concerts and branded shops within games, the metaverse is everything marketers have ever dreamed of. Brands will be able to create virtual stores or exhibitions and people, through their virtual presence (avatars), will visit the stores and have an experience of the product just like they would physically.
It is important for marketers to understand the fluidity of marketing. New best practices and policies come and go, algorithms are getting smarter and harder to predict. Marketers must always be ready to discard their once working strategies in the face of new changes.
Have you ever found yourself stuck on what to post on social media? It happens all the time. Finding good ideas to post can be tricky sometimes.
At first, Launching your company’s social media profiles seems like an easy task. Then comes the hard part when you are supposed to be consistently posting engaging content. That is when you realize social media marketing is not easy work at all.
I have worked (and still working) in social media marketing for a couple of small-to-medium companies and organizations in Tanzania for over three years now. I have experienced these challenges myself.
Some days your creative mind will be on vacation. You will procrastinate or will not post at all. And your boss will fire you (let that not happen).
If you want to go beyond the self promotional approach, these post ideas will boost engagement on your social platforms and give value to your followers.
1. Question-based Post: This is a powerful way to start a conversation with your followers. Ask an engaging question that relates to what your business does. You can also conduct market research from this type of posts.
2. Post statistics or industry news: What are the current findings or news in your industry? Be sure to share them with your audience. It will make you part of the industry and not someone who is just there to sell. Statistics are also the best way to support your claim or message.
3. Share your opinion about a trending topic: There’s always something in your industry trending online. You find what it is, share it, and give your two cents on the topic. Again, it is about being part of the online conversations that your audience cares about.
4. Share Tips and How-To post: Educational posts are effective to introduce you as a thought leader in your niche. People always want to know how things are done. Tell them and build trust in return.
5. Thank you Post; Every time you hit a certain number of followers, be sure to thank your followers for helping you grow.
6. Behind the scenes posts: If you were (or still) a Game of Thrones fan, I am sure you have watched a couple of behind the scene videos of the show. And they probably helped you build a human connection with the actors. Sometimes you can post a photo or go live and showcase your office, or store. It helps to show your audience a human side of you and fosters a deeper trust than that of a traditional post.
7. Run Contests and Giveaways: Contests and giveaways can be an instant way to grow your engagement on social media. They can give you new followers and result in increased sales.
8. Post a Meme: Well, sometimes it is not a bad idea to light up things a little. Just because you are a bank, or a pharmacy doesn’t mean you have to be serious and full of jargon every day. But be careful with memes!
9. Leverage User-Generated Content (UGC): Chances are people are already talking about whatever your business is in to. The best way to join these conversations is to share/repost/retweet someone’s post about the topic. It will affirm you and make you part of the conversation.
10. Post Infographics: Don’t let your blog articles rot in your website, try to repurpose them in a visually appealing way. Infographics are ideal ways to summarize a lengthy amount of information in short form.
11. Re-introduce yourself: Once in a while, reminding your followers of who you are and what you do is not a bad idea. Warning: don’t use this repeatedly, you will become a boring brand.
12. Share PDF and White Papers: sometimes a social media post can not say it all. If you have got a lot to say such as case studies, give it to your followers in the form of downloadable formats. Besides, everyone loves takeaways.
Conclusion
Social media can be a waste of time if done without a plan. As a serious business, you don’t want to add up to the social media noise and become a bore to your loyal fans. You need a strategy.
If you need a digital strategy that can bring results to your business, contact us HERE.
Social media has become an important part of our everyday life. Worldwide, there are 3.80 billion social media users.
In Tanzanian, a large number of youths are avid users of these social platforms such Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. We use these tools to stay connected and informed. But most of us tend to be so well informed about issues surrounding our celebrities.
We are active on social media, and that’s not always a bad thing. But are we making the most of it?
You have probably heard about people who have won scholarships, competitions, deals, got job and all these exciting opportunities after seeing them from social media, and you were left asking, ‘which Instagram are these winners using?’ Well, they get information about opportunities the same way you get information about Diamond Platnumz divorcing Tanasha.
If you don’t want to miss out on important opportunities, or want to do more with social media, here is how you can benefit from these platforms, the same ones that winners are using:
Join groups or conversations that resonate with you
Don’t be up to date with everything. That’s draining. Be well informed about issues that really matter to you. Be it social change, world issues, sports or anything else. You need to have an information diet, you can’t take anything in. Focus and engage on content that resonate with you only. Celebrity dramas is entertaining but time wasting.
Find your tribe and connect with them
Follow people who do things you love doing. If you’re a digital marketer, find and connect with people in the digital marketing industry. You can also have virtual mentors on social media who inspire you and give you lessons through their posts. because all these people who live our dream lives, post about it. Why not learn and be mentored?
Endelea kufanya mzaha na mitandao ya kijamii. Fanya tu mzaha. Endelea, na umri unakwenda hivyo. Hii mitandao kuna watu imewasaidia kupata kazi, imewachangia ada, imewasaidia matibabu, misiba, biashara, wapenzi, n.k. Sasa wewe endelea na mzaha kila dakika labda ni fungu lako.
I used to hate this word, because I believe people are not brands. But again, your social media persona should just be you. Don’t fake things because people will notice. Understand who you aspire to become and try your level best to stay out of trouble on social media.
Follow accounts that post opportunities
There are a lot of accounts and blogs that share opportunities and organizations that do things that you like. In 2018, I went to Malawi to work with When the Saints, an organization that works with girls who have been sexually abused. I got into contact with them after just I read about them from my favourite blog. I reached out to the founder and I got the opportunity to work with the organization for for three months.
Use your account to share your passion
I love blogging, and my Instagram is full of pictures and long captions (inspiring people and sharing tips), my Twitter is full of me connecting with other bloggers in the word. You love photography, share what you capture on your account, sell what you make, share your love for things etc. You might gain a following and might as well become an influencer. People pay bills using their social media accounts these days, why not you?
And those are the ways I think we can benefit from these digital platforms.
-Eunice💜
Eunice is a writer at abiblegirl.com, where she shares life tips for millennials. Connect with her on Instagram.
